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Choline Prevents Homocysteine Build-up

By: Corinna Underwood - Updated: 1 Jul 2010 | comments*Discuss
 
Choline Homocysteine Lecithin Fat Food

Getting enough choline in your daily diet can help to prevent high homocysteine levels in your blood. Increased homocysteine levels are known increase risk of stroke, heart attack, cancer and dementia. Choline is an essential nutrient. Although humans are able to synthesize very small amounts of choline, it must be obtained from the diet to maintain healthy levels. Most of the choline in the human body is found in certain fat molecules called phospholipids.

Lecithin is a phospholipid, and is in fact the most abundant of all of them. The structure of every single cell in the human body is made up of this fatty substance. It is essential for the proper functioning of the brain and the nervous system. It forms a large portion of the mass of the brain and nervous system.

Lecithin is another vital component of the heart muscles and the endocrine glands. It makes up more than half of the total fat in the liver. Over activity of the nervous system or glands will use up stores of lecithin more quickly than it can be replaced. If this happens you will be left feeling exhausted and irritable. Lecithin should be added to the diet to prevent your body's supply becoming too depleted from stress or the affects of aging.

Lecithin helps also the brain by improving the memory. It is also responsible for boosting the effects of vitamin E, keeping the skin soft, smooth and young looking, keeping the heart muscles in tone and good circulation.

with better memory and helps vitamin E work better. Lecithin helps keep the skin softer and smoother, and is good for the heart and circulation. 1200 to 3600 mgs. each day is recommended for optimum results.

Choline Helps with Lipid (Fat) Transportation

Cholesterol and fats obtained from the diet are transported, by lipoproteins, to the liver. Once they have arrived they are transformed into low density lipoproteins and transported through the blood steams to tissues where they are needed. Choline is essential for this process. Without choline cholesterol and fat would just build up in the liver.

Choline is marketed as a lipotrope, a substance that can increase the mobilisation of fatty acids, thereby helping people to lose body fat. There has not been any scientific data, however, to prove this claim. The only lipotropic ability noted by choline is its ability to prevent storing of bad fats in the liver due to alcoholism.

Important choline sources include liver, fish, beans eggs, dairy products and soy foods.The adequate daily required in take for choline is 400-500mg for adolescents and adults and 200-375mg for children. Women who are pregnant or breast feeding need up to 550mg per day.

Caution

It is safe to take choline supplements on a regular basis. Be careful how much you take, too much can cause high blood pressure, sweating, flatulence and diarrhoea.

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